Thursday's Daily Pulse

What you need to know about Florida today

| 10/18/2012

› 500,000 Floridians have voted in presidential race already[Times/Herald] In a sign of the intense interest in the presidential race, about 500,000 Floridians have already cast absentee ballots and that number is growing by the day. More than 1.8 million additional voters have requested the ballots, which are typically mailed in.

› Grooveshark rolling out redesigned site[Gainesville Sun] The Gainesville music streaming service has added more social elements for users to follow what their friends are listening to and tools to allow artists to manage their content and identities and communicate with fans.

› Norwegian Cruise Line orders new megaship[Miami Herald] The Miami-based cruise operator reached an agreement with the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany to build a 4,200-passenger vessel for delivery in October 2015 for 700 million euros, or about $918 million at current exchange rates.